Gillette Shows Why a Legacy Brand Should Probably Never Troll an Underdog

Its Twitter ads go after Dollar Shave Club and backfire

Dollar Shave Club is known for its ads poking fun at competitors like Schick and Gillette, claiming last month to have become the No. 2 best-selling razor in the U.S. Now, Gillette is fighting back with a rather unorthodox approach: turning negative tweets about the startup into ads.

And with Dollar Shave Club still perceived as "the little guy," it's not going very well.

Over the past few days, Promoted Tweets from Gillette have started showing up in news feeds from Gillette customers who have evidently tried but weren't impressed by Dollar Shave Club's subscription service.

One tweet in particular from Ermin Maslic, an account executive at VaynerMedia, raised eyebrows yesterday. The way the situation played out was unusual. In August, Maslic tweeted that he didn't like Dollar Shave Club's products, calling out Gillette.

Tried Dollar Shave Club and didn't like the blades at all. You've won me back @Gillette

Per Vaynerchuk, Gillette asked Maslic to use his tweet, but he was not paid.

But the VaynerMedia confusion is just the beginning for Gillette, which is getting all kinds of negative reactions.

The social campaign has sparked a ton of backlash on Twitter from users who say the P&G brand's name-dropping ads are too aggressive—showing the risk big-name marketers take when calling out an underdog.